Several German companies have announced their plans to invest or expand operations in Indiana while Governor Mike Pence has spent the last week on a trade mission in the country.

Germany is Indiana’s third largest foreign employer. This week, several German companies said they intend to invest millions of dollars and create dozens of jobs in the state over the next few years. Pence says that shows there is value in going on a trade mission to a country that already does lots of business with Indiana.

“What we have seen and heard in the more than 100 business contacts that we’ve made here over the last week is that there’s a great deal of interest among German companies to expanding in the United States and there is growing interest in companies looking to the state of Indiana as the place where they can come and where they can grow,” Pence said.

Pence says one of the reasons for that growing interest is a shared focus on career and vocational education for young people.

“At the very core of their program is an active, regular partnership between business and education where they’re continuously designing and redesigning career and vocational pathways to meet the needs of businesses on a regional basis,” he said.

Pence says that lines up with the Regional Works Councils created last year that are meant to align career and vocational curriculum in 11 regions around the state.

Brandon Smith has previously worked as a reporter and anchor for KBIA Radio in Columbia, MO, and at WSPY Radio in Plano, IL as a show host, reporter, producer and anchor. Brandon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, with minors in political science and history. He was born and raised in Chicago.

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